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Opinion

I would just like to commend the staff at New Horizons Medical Center for the excellent care I received while a patient at our hospital.

Having been a nurse myself for over 20 years, I am not used to being the patient but I must say, I was impressed with New Horizons. We are so fortunate to have this facility in our community and more people should take advantage of it and support it.

So to everyone at New Horizons, keep up the good work you are doing to improve the health and well being of our citizens.

Another successful year at the fair. The reason: So many people giving of their time and effort. Lots of people don’t realize that so many of these people take their vacation time to have a successful fair for the people of Owen County and a lot of children that can’t go somewhere else for fun.

And a special thanks for the memorial to Charles Wright. A special thanks to all that remembered him in every event. He was not there in body but I am sure he was there in spirit.

Most of us remember the rhymes and doggerels of our childhood and growing up in Owen County brings memories of the games played with friends long ago. We played jump rope, hopscotch, kick the can, and marbles. Counting out rhymes like “one potato, two potato” designated which child would be “it” in a game of tag or hide-and-seek.

Editor’s Note: Georgia Green Stamper is on vacation. This column first appeared in August 2008.

In August of 1956, Daddy observed that his tobacco crop needed another couple of weeks to yellow in the fields before cutting. If my mother and I wanted, he allowed as how he could slip away from the farm work for a few days, and we could join his sisters and their families on a short vacation trip to the Smokey Mountains.

There is a service that Owen County provides to its citizens that I suspect is not generally well known. The service is one whereby the county will provide transportation, to and from medical appointments, for its citizens, mostly – though not limited to – its senior citizens.

The creek was over my bridge again last week. This time we had three inches of rain in about two hours and it was about 23 inches above the floor of the bridge. The bridge held again but it needs a bit of help this time. As soon as John gets through with his painting, I’ll get him down here to do some minor repairs on it.

I consider myself a well-informed citizen. I read local papers, watch the news on TV and visit news-related sites on the Internet regularly. When I heard about allegations and fraud abuse at the Kentucky Association of Counties (KACo) recently, I paid little attention. “This doesn’t affect my family or my community,” I thought. I was wrong.

The upcoming fall and winter months may be particularly difficult for rural communities (as well as urban) across the nation. The persistence of an economic recession, combined with a potentially devastating flu season sets the stage for a time of unprecedented need. I strongly encourage communities nationwide to unite within their community and develop a cooperative strategy of survival in times of disaster. Take note of those in your community with special needs, such as the elderly, disabled and fatherless homes.

Writing is a solitary avocation. I’m reminded of the wonderful old movie where Jimmy Stewart rambles on and on to an invisible giant white rabbit named Harvey. Writing is like that – a one-sided conversation, with the author doing all the talking, while the reader, as invisible as Harvey, may or may not be listening or even be in the same room.

I just finished reading the story in this week’s paper about the magistrates rejecting the plan to spend $5,000 to clean the second floor of the old jail building but voted to spend the money to temporarily move the Sheriff’s office and rent another building for $1,000 a month.

The building will still need to be cleaned and repaired to keep birds from getting in, so that money will still need to be spent, plus it will cost money for the move both ways not to mention the cost to set up the new building for the everyday business of the sheriff’s office.

This letter is to express thanks to the staff of New Horizon Medical Center in Owenton and to a few other “Angels of Mercy” who helped me through a life-threatening situation. Last week, I was on a scheduled medical visit when the staff of New Horizon Medical Center discovered that, among a few other symptoms, I had lost a significant amount of blood. Not wanting to risk the time needed for an ambulance to take me to another hospital, they called for a helicopter to have me flown to St. Elizabeth in Florence.

I am so tired of seeing dogs run loose in Monterey and nothing being done about it. I hate to bring it up because it just causes negative attention to the town and causes hard feelings with neighbors/friends, but what’s fair is fair.

When residents like me have had fence put in to abide by the rules, and then we have to sit and watch dogs run loose, it is just not right.

The Owen County Art Council would like to thank everyone who made the first annual Sweet Owen Arts in the Park possible. There were many hands behind the scenes that combined to create a great event for Owen County.

Maybe you won’t understand this little story if you’ve never felt different, if you’ve always fit in, if you’ve never felt too fat or too thin, too short or too tall ee" if you’ve never been a teenager or can’t remember being one.

And maybe you can’t laugh at this silliness if you’ve walked a road so harshly different it rises up to taunt you every morning of your life. I think of those who’ve struggled with racial prejudice or serious physical or mental disabilities.

June 13 is a very special day in the history of African-Americans. It was situated in a week that was set aside to recognize that our community is no longer segregated, but unified in an attempt to become viable members of society and to recognize the accomplishments of local communities.

It was befitting on this special day that the First Annual Two Mile Road Reunion was held on the Gayle and Branom properties.

REACH of Northern Kentucky is a Christ-centered nonprofit organization whose goals are to reduce substance abuse among youth and adults and to raise community awareness to the monumental problem of drugs we are facing.

What does the clip clop of a horse-drawn carriage, raspberry-lemon scones, Benedictine On Rye, an 1800s girl’s finishing school, a riverboat pilot, historical museum and a civil war soldier have to do with a world cup gun shoot? For goodness sakes.

It all happened in Owenton Friday, thanks to the generosity and hard work of a number of people and community groups.